Special 2010 UK Tour Just Announced by Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra

Spatial AKA Orchestra

There aren't many bands revered in such a passionate way by their fans, yet the Specials certainly are one of them. Their 30th anniversary tour in 2009 showed just what a force they still are - but one notable absentee was founder-member Jerry Dammers. Y'see, Dammers and the rest of the bunch aren't getting on too well, fuelled by the reformation by Terry Hall and Neville Staples. So what do you do instead? You form your own band of notable musicians and tour the UK with your own brand of ska, reggae and jazz.

Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA (see what he did there?) Orchestra will begin a dozen or so dates, beginning with a spot in the spiritual Specials home-town of Coventry on March 4th before travelling onward through Brighton, Manchester etc until finishing on April 9th in Northampton. There isn't a London date on here - curious decision but you never know, it might happen at a later date. Tickets will cost around £17.50 for most of the dates.

The 19-piece orchestra was originally formed to play tributes of Sun Ra tracks but now their repertoire covers some of the classic artists from the golden era of ska and, in particular, Tommy McCook and Cedric IM Brookes as well as jazzy-psychedelia influences like Martin Denny and Alice Coltrane. The ensemble features award-winning musicians such as pianist Zoe Rahman and saxophonist Denys Baptiste, so fair-play to Jerry for sussing out the truly-talented. Should be a great show and tickets are on sale now.